SWORD & SHIELD: THE GREAT JOURNEY

Round 5

Going Solo With Solosis

Galar Mine

July 1, 10:03 AM

Victor and Gloria had made it through the tangled maze of Route 3 and into Galar Mine, where a hive of bustling activity greeted them. Carkol and Machamp were busy carting coal to the freight station, and workers and Pokemon alike dug for ores. The expanses of tunnels were lit by small lanterns, but even so there were dark patches, where the tunnel curved in just a way that the lanterns could not hit the patch.

"Wow, it's so large," Gloria said breathlessly as she stared at thse wide-open pit, where a gently sloping track and a ladder were the only ways inside, and a bridge made out of wood spanned the length of the huge hole.

"I know, right?" As he spoke, Woobat were flying around the bridge, and some Rolycoly and Roggenrola were bouncing around, and a sign above them proclaimed WELCOME TO MINETOWN.

"Oh, Minetown! This was one of Galar's most scenic sights, and it's the only one that's underground!" Gloria exclaimed. "You see there, that's Pokemon Road, and Galar Avenue is just down that way..."

"A Pokemon Center?" Victor asked. "I guess it makes sense in hindsight, but isn't it a bit out of place? It's not carved into the rock like all the other buildings are."

Even the hotel was constructed out of a rock pillar, not to mention all the houses. Rails crisscrossed Minetown everywhere, coming out of tunnels, and one bridge even held two tracks. They all merged as they headed towards the right, towards the sign that said GRR FREIGHT.

"Wow," Gloria said. "I bet the mines ahead would be good training grounds. They're so teeming with Pokemon. And that's good for the research, too!"

"I know, right?" Victor said. "C'mon. Let's rest them up and head on to Route 4."

Minetown

July 1, 10:30 AM

"I guess that's our signal to go!" Victor said. The clock chimed ten and a half hours. "Wish there was a train going from Motostoke to Turffield, that way we wouldn't spend too much time travelling!"

"Yep," Gloria said. "I wonder what we'll find over in the other side of Galar Mine. Hopefully not more Roggenrola this time around."

"C'mon! Let's split up and search the mine!" Victor said.

Galar Mine

July 1, 10:34 AM

Gloria immediately regretted the decision to split. Even though Victor was annoying, he wasn't that annoying, and Gloria actually hadn't become bored of Victor yet. Although Marina was standing up to the Rolycoly and Roggenrola easily (which, as Gloria learned long ago, was because of type matchups) Paula was at a slight disadvantage.

"You can do it!" Gloria said. "You can do it!"

"What, exactly?" a voice behind her spoke. "You can do what?"

"That's not important." Gloria turned around to face the speaker, who was a smug-looking boy who dressed in all magenta, and evidently always kept a frown on his face. He also had the curliest white hair that Gloria could imagine.

"Hey, you," he began. "Name's Bede. You upstart trainers have no hope of winning the Championships. I will be the worthy opponent to Champion Leon. I've been endorsed by the Chairman himself!"

"Go ahead!" Gloria stood, motioning to the other exit to the cavern.

"Oh, no," Bede said. "I will crush the other Challengers. They do not deserve to challenge the Champion!"

"Um..." Gloria pulled out the Poke Ball containing Marina. "Here goes, I guess?"

Bede's first Pokemon exploded out of its Ultra Ball. Gloria immediately whipped out her PokeDex and scanned it.

"Hey! What areyoudoing to my precious Pokemon?" Bede said.

"Just scanning it, that's all. You know, gathering info."

"Oh. Well, get on with it!"

Marina Water Pulsed Bede's Gothia, and it retaliated with a Confusion. Both sides repeated those moves, and as the twin attacks hit, Marina staggered back, while the opposing Gothia fell over, her eyes turning into swirls. Seeing Marina's weakened condition, Gloria returned her to her Poke Ball.

Bede sent out his Hatenna, while Gloria sent out Paula.

"Paula! Tackle!" Gloria yelled out. "Hatenna! Confusion!" Bede said, rather coldly. The two attacks hit, and Paula rolled away from the impact while Bede's Hatenna fainted.

"Finally! You've got guts to go this far, but my treasured Solosis will strike you down! It's been with me since I was five!"

His Solosis exploded from its Ultra Ball with an angry expression, and proceeded to fire a rather powerful Psybeam. Paula rolled towards Solosis to attempt a tackle, but was bounced away by the green fluid.

Gloria winced.

"Paula! Use Round!"

The song travelled towards Solosis and this time, the green fluid did not deflect the attack. Solosis winced, and as he fired another Psybeam, Paula was struck back, and rolled away.

"Ow, ow! That hurt..." Paula moaned. Gloria recalled her. "Go! Marina!"

Marina proceeded to splash water all over Bede's Solosis. He retaliated with a Psybeam, but missed, due to the water currently splashed all over his fluid.

"Ha!" Marina exclaimed.

Marina usually wasn't over-the-top, but this time she was. She sprayed water all over Solosis, even spraying it as the Ultra Ball was closing.

"Marina! STOP!" Gloria said.

"Hehehehe..." Marina said back.

"Well, if you finally control your Pokemon, I'll leave." Bede turned and walked away, his face a train wreck of anger and – actually, mostly anger. He walked away, fuming.

I bet Bede hasn't seen losing very much, Gloria thought. Maybe it was bad to cream his loss like that, to shove it in his face.

But still, ha!

There was work to do, and Galar Mine wasn't done yet.

Route 4

July 1, 11:19 AM

"How warm it is now in the sun!" Gloria remarked. The damp air of Galar Mine was not very comfortable, and now in the warm, dry air in the fields of Route 4, Gloria felt more relaxed.

The city of Turffield, with its large green bowl-shaped stadium, was far in the distance. In between were many wheat fields and a few sheds, probably the farms of the inhabitants of Turffield. Wild Pokemon were frolicking in them, from the Cutiefly and Combee buzzing around, to the Eevee romping around the grass, and some Milcery gathered together next to a Miltank, sloshing around.

This beautiful countryside separated Gloria and Turffield, and now the only thing left to do was to go through.

A/N: We'll keep Gloria's POV in the next chapter, Encountering Eevee and Meeting Milcery, as, well, she has some team-building to do. See you next time!